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Denisa Seician

For innovation to thrive, it needs active support. That’s why, this spring, we’ve offered our support to Transilvania Robotix – a 20-member TechTeam – to build a robot from scratch in order to participate at the FIRST Technical Challenge event in Bucharest.

High-school students driving innovation

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a not-for-profit charity that designs innovative programs which motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math while building self-confidence, knowledge and life skills.

This year’s event gathered young robotics enthusiasts at the first national robotics technology championship designed for school children and affiliated with FIRST Robotics World Circuit USA. 800 students grouped in 53 teams competed against each other by building robots from scratch.

Aligning to FIRST’s objectives of pursuing students to become leaders and innovators through enhancing their 21st century work-life skills, Accesa proudly sponsored Transilvania Robotix, a team of 20 young tech enthusiasts from Avram Iancu High School, Cluj-Napoca who built a robot from scratch, made entirely out of custom components with integrated servo motors, 16 sensors and 8 encoders. The robot had to perform lifting operations both in autonomous and controlled manner. The team sponsored by Accesa was the only one who created a complete CAD design, used custom parts and integrated aesthetic elements, which help in creating a clean personified look.

Two awards and counting

The Robotix Team rocked at the competition, winning two awards.

The Think Award was given to the team which’s product best reflected the engineering design process during the build season and the way technical obstacles were removed through creative thinking. The PTC Design Award recognized design elements of the robot that were both functional and aesthetic.

“This project was the first of its kind for high school children in Romania. For us it represented a great opportunity to discover a new area of study. During these two months I learned a lot and realized just how much is there still to learn. The team was very enthusiastic, I made many close friends and the project really helped me work better in a group. I am thankful to have had this experience,” said one of the team members.

“This first event of its kind in Romania was highly advertised and brought in one place clever, innovative, enthusiastic minds, who were overly eager to learn. We are very grateful to have participated and are proud of the results. Inspired by this competition, we are planning to open a summer school program, where we can apply the earned skills and learn others. For next year’s edition we have big plans, but first of all we will participate this year in the Netherland’s edition of the same competition, where we hope for even better results.” explained the mentor of the project, Nicoleta Tirtan.

It was a great experience for Accesa to support talented, innovation-driven students pursue their dreams. We were very surprised by what high school students are able to create from scratch and are convinced this experience represents an important milestone in their professional future. By creating space for innovation, we help youth on their road towards putting a ding in the universe.